QueenZone discussion #1185656
The Sun City Sound , Good Mix/Bad Mix/Performance?
| City-in-the-Sun 13.06.2009 20:13 |
Thanks Guys for all the comments , Lets start Talking on there Performace ,Without there Great skill and talant, and tightnes in the band, which time had done naturally for them over many years , a glory to Behold. and seldom captured in live music these days . Boy this concert Gets Better every day,i think a much better mix than the festivals and live music live Broadcast mix you get nowdays which is so COMPRESSEDDD it does not sound real anymore,yes more compression the Greater the experiance ,comon lets get the sound back to normal?? and get Heart and Soul back into our music..[img=/images/smiley/msn/regular_smile.gif][/img] |
| Saint Jiub 13.06.2009 21:07 |
I like how easy it is to distinctly hear John's bass. I am not a musician, and I do not have a good idea of what compression means so i had to google it ... http://createdigitalmusic.com/2007/05/16/loudness-war-music-over-compression-demonstrated-on-youtube Now that I have some idea of what compression is, I can tell that I would generally not like it, as I would not likely hear the distinct sounds of the music. It seems to me that compression would be the antithesis of Queen, as the various sounds in their music, particularly in the 70's are almost always distinctly heard. |
| on my way up 14.06.2009 05:57 |
I was completely blown away by this performance, to be honest. 1984 is certainly not the best year for Queen live but here they have all the enthusiasm they need to play an extraordinary performance. Freddie's voice is in great shape and he also uses it to its maximum. He sings with guts and creativity. For example: he sings a great version of 'Killer Queen', with lots of passion. And then of course there are the surprises, like that jam before It's a hard life, the March of the black Queen/ My fairy king reference, the great jam between Dragon attack and Now I'm here. When hearing the sample of 'I want to break free' I was really surprised by the way Freddie sang the last line before the guitar solo. |
| pittrek 14.06.2009 11:24 |
I love it, honestly. It's definitely not what I've expected. I've expected to hear a very nervous band, giving a very nervous performance. Instead of it we got one of the best 1984 recordings ! The improvisation is a nice welcoem little surprise, and I can't wait to hear a complete recording :) Anyway, the absence of the audience is not that good, but at least we have a proper recording of the action on stage |
| brians wig 14.06.2009 12:27 |
I think it's great that the recording has a very limited volume audience on it - it's great to hear the band without anything else drowning them out. I hope Anthony posts the rest of this gig as this has given me the biggest buzz I've had in years. Thanks Anthony, you're making many people VERY happy and you've given us something far superior than Queen themselves have given us for a long time! |
| koldweather123 14.06.2009 12:56 |
Its a very good concert indeed from the first half of what we've heard. It doesn't shock me that the band are solid after the European leg of the Works tour but Freddie's voice was a lot more surprising. I'd always assumed that given he had to stop one of the concerts due to his vocal problems and yet there isn't even a trace of those issues in this concerts. Indeed to me he sounds like he would at the start of a tour and goes for notes very similar to the start of the Works tour (eg Seven Seas of Rhye, Somebody to Love) Then you have the improvs they do, this is one of the best concerts they ever did in that respect from what I've heard. A stunning March Of The Black Queen and My Fairy King piano improvisation (IMO the best they did) the very long jam they did before Its a Hard Life and also the usual jam between Dragon Attack and Now I'm Here is also very good. |
| The Real Wizard 14.06.2009 13:15 |
The performance gives an insight to a part of their career that was previous undocumented. They play with guts, as they have something to prove in new territory... something they hadn't done in 3 years. This is by far the best Queen-related recording to come out since the Live At The Bowl DVD. |
| Rick 14.06.2009 16:10 |
I better not give my opinion, since I will then spoil all the positivism. No offence to the sharer, for his generosity is mostly appreciated. |
| on my way up 14.06.2009 16:15 |
It's indeed fantastic to hear something from those Sun City dates. Until now we knew those shows happened but apart from that we knew very little. That's why this recording is so revealing. It shows the band could still play their guts out, when needed(or, when they felt they needed to). The audience that witnessed this performance was very lucky:-) As everyone else I'm looking forward to part 2. I wonder whether songs like Hammer to fall, Crazy little thing or Another one bites the dust have also surprises in store for us(and all the others for that matter). |
| Kniggit 14.06.2009 17:00 |
Wow, I haven't heard a fresher recording in ages! I love the way you can hear the intruments, and Freddie's voice. I was starting to believe that I had heard all the really good gems that were recorded, but this gave me new hope! I would love to hear the whole concert. Big thanks from Norway! |
| Yara 14.06.2009 22:48 |
Hi, Anthony! How are you? I thoroughly enjoyed it all: from the sound quality to the performance. The sound quality is truly superb - I was positively shocked by the fullness and the immediacy of the sound - it's as if the band were playing a private gig for me!! :-)) - and, as it was mentioned above, by the clear, neat distinction between each instrument - one can appreciate both the songs as a whole and the individual performances. It's really great. I loved it. Interestingly enough, the performance is way better, to my mind, than the average gigs from this tour - it ranks up there with the concerts in Brussels and Birmingham. So, it's a great performance too. But what I found most interesting was the perfect documentation of a claim made by many fans who attended the Works' tour - the appreciation for the album aside, most of them commented on how powerful and tight Queen sounded in that tour overall. Up until now, all we had were the valuable, though limited for leaving us hungry for sharing a bit of the experience, reports and stories kindly told to us by people who attended the concerts. The sound quality of most of the recordings, however, although great for being there as a way of documenting Queen's live legacy, was poor - even the better gigs from this tour have only an average sound quality, so I never really could have a real sense of what those fans were talking about. Now, because of your share, I feel as if I had been there in the audience - it's great, it bears out all the stories told by the fans about how powerful and tight the band sounded back then! So, well, I'm really thrilled: it was the first time I got to listen to such songs as Dragon Attack, which demands a powerful sound from the bass and the guitar for us to enjoy it, really happen: it's just breathtaking. This was always one of my favorites but, no matter what the concert, I always thought that the sound quality didn't make justice to the huge potential this song has - this recording has proven once and for all to me what a great composition by Brian it is. Listening to it as it was supposed to be listented to is an absolutely thrilling experience - it's a living song, it has a soul in it, it's grand, powerful, brutal even and absolutely astonishing in the way Brian make his little precious jams as John's bass lines give the song a groove which is enough to raise the most depressed corpse. ;-))) I listen to it and I get thrilled. Dragon Attack sounds so thin and meager in "The Game" - it's one of those songs you know it's great and has a lot of potential, but which demand a live performance for people to fully appreciate it - the rawness, the excitement and the aggressive take of the live performance finally does the song justice. The recording you just shared revealed it all. Your share left no doubt about the power and the infectious rythim of the song; it showed it in all its greatness: from Freddie's muscular, syncopated and expressive vocals going through all kinds of loops in pitch to the amazing coordination and interaction between the guys. This song has always been one of my all-time favorites. Your recording makes it sound like never before - it does justice to each and every element which makes this song so special. Hands down - that's the way I would like live recordings to sound. It's brilliant. THANKS A LOT FOR THIS. You made my day, month, year... :-)) I'm really happy. Take care and thanks a whole lot, Yara |
| riccardo 14.06.2009 22:51 |
In my opinion Freddie's voice wasn't so good in this concert. I think this is a tipical shape of last part of September 84. |
| The Real Wizard 14.06.2009 22:56 |
riccardo wrote: In my opinion Freddie's voice wasn't so good in this concert. I think this is a tipical shape of last part of September 84. Are you sure? Listen again to Seven Seas Of Rhye, and then compare it to the Vienna 84 shows. |
| riccardo 14.06.2009 23:47 |
Sir GH wrote:riccardo wrote: In my opinion Freddie's voice wasn't so good in this concert. I think this is a tipical shape of last part of September 84.Are you sure? Listen again to Seven Seas Of Rhye, and then compare it to the Vienna 84 shows. Sure for that song, and for last line before guitar solo of IWTBF! But for the rest? For example, listen the versions of under pressure, somebody to love or hardlife... it's a tipical delivery of 84-85. I think that the first night in Rock in Rio is much better. |
| The Real Wizard 15.06.2009 01:26 |
I have to admit, I have yet to give an objective listen to the uncut 1-12-85 show, as the video is such bad quality. Is yours at least listenable? But again, most of the audio on the 60 minute official release is from that night, and you're right, he does put in a good show. |
| Back2TheLight 15.06.2009 02:23 |
Thank you again for posting this much of the show... Greetings from Corona, CA. USA. I'm definately looking forward to hearing more. They sound really good at this gig...better than some of the other Works bootlegs I've heard. As a musician myself, I would say they are not at top form, but you can hear the enthusiasm they put forth at this show. They really tried to give this corwd something special. God love them for it, they did a great show... |
| brians wig 15.06.2009 04:02 |
Rick wrote: I better not give my opinion, since I will then spoil all the positivism. No offence to the sharer, for his generosity is mostly appreciated. You just did! |
| City-in-the-Sun 15.06.2009 13:52 |
Great comments guys Thank you yara ,which other gigs would you guys recomend i listen to, which sound as full as the Sun City SB Mix.? Yup it makes me feel like they are playing just for you. |
| koldweather123 15.06.2009 16:50 |
Riccardo, have you listened to the version with the speed and pitch corrected? Because I suspect thats why your comparing it to a late September concert where in truth its much closer to a late August concert as others have said. I think Freddie's voice is in real decent shape and he has some guts to hit higher notes then he had done, EG on Under pressure he goes for the higher note in the "why" and also goes for the higher parts in the first section of the second verse. Then we have Somebody to love where he goes for the note just like the first few shows of the works tour on the "somebody to loveeeeeeee" just before the 3rd verse. Then we have obviously the Seven seas of Rhye thats been mentioned, plus he goes for a higher note on Its a hard life in "Ohh yeah" part in the first verse...plus the notes in his improv between Dragon attack...then lets not forget he nails 2 out of 3 higher notes of Now I'm here, certainly the best from 1984. As for the 12th Rock in Rio show, yeah his voice is also good there, probably about the same as this concert actually roughly, though I really need to hear the second half of this show to know where to rank this concert. Saying that its easily in the top 10 best shows for Freddie in terms of vocals n the tour, possibly pushing towards the top 5. IMO it goes the 9th May 1985, then 8th May 1985, then the Brussels show, Dublin show, 1st Birmingham show, Sun city, Rock in Rio 1st show, Sydney 26th April and then Stuttgart. |
| Yara 15.06.2009 22:14 |
City-in-the-Sun wrote: Great comments guys Thank you yara ,which other gigs would you guys recomend i listen to, which sound as full as the Sun City SB Mix.? Yup it makes me feel like they are playing just for you. Hi, Anthony! How are you doing? Well, I'm the one who should be thanking you now. I'm really grateful for your share, it's a gem. As for the question you made, I'm sure such users as dear Sir GH are more qualified to answer it. :-) Before more knowledgeable users join in to answer your question, I give you my impression and hope that it may turn out to be helpful. Excuse me for the lenght of the post – if you find it boring or not helpful at all, you just need to know that I'm absolutely thrilled by your share and got really happy. I'll try to convey both my impression of a certain concert and the joy I feel when I listen to it. :- ) A dear Queenzoner created a project aimed at making easily available, in lossless format and with detailed info whenever possible, the very best Queen concerts, covering each and every tour and trying to strike a balance between sound quality and the quality of performance. For each tour he shared about five gigs – either through rapidshare/mediafire links or, more recently, thanks to another dear Queenzoner, torrent files. The series is called"Best of the Best". It was created, developed, managed and organized by Queenzoner Pittrek. If you take a look at the entry for the year 1979, you'll find Pittrek's amazing, wonderful remaster of the gig at Hammersmith Odeon – it's the closest thing to your share that I can think of now. I may be biased because this is one of my all-time favorite Queen concerts, if not the favorite, period. It was upon listening to this concert some time ago that I was finally converted to "New of the Worldism", my religion in Queen's world. ;-))) It was their rendition of the slow version of We Will Rock You at Hammy'79 which finally convinced me that News of The World is the real deal. Before I listened to that version, I didn't realize the potential of this song – it seemed amusing, catchy, but I couldn't, at first, see anything special in it. But then...I found out in it a liturgical celebration of rock and peace and entertainment delivered in a quasi-gregorian chant of sorts, all based on unisons and a gorgeous monophonic texture thanks to Freddie's chant. The beginning of the song in this concert is thrilling. As Freddie squarely delivers the refrain at a very high-pitch (he's doing it a bit higher than in the studio), managing to – alone! - descend in thirds just like the chorus in the studio recording, Brian begins to play amazing performanti, that is, he starts emulating Freddie's voice as if his guitar were answering or confirming the singing. Freddie spurs the audience to sing along and you suddenly notice the brutal drop in pitch which will set the scene for his amazing muscular vocals throughout the song. He has just warmed up. Then he begins. He starts to sing the song and it's magic. It's pure vocal prowess and virtuosism: it's singing elevated to state of art. No matter the words or the measure within the bar, he elicits, as a sorcerer, the very same note over and over again, without going even slightly out of tune: the notes sound round and squarely over and over again, and after hitting perfectly the higher notes in "MAN-someday" and so on (A3), he lands beautifully on the central tune again (either D or E3) and resumes the unison-based sequence flawlessly. If you take a look at the video, you'll see that, by the time he's going to sing "all over the place", which demands a brutal drop in tune which reveals the most gorgeous part of his vocal register, his vocal muscles obey his wonderful musical intelligence and start to swell a bit as he descends to Eb2, even lower than in the recording! Listening to him sing this song at Hammersmith 79 is like watching a virtuoso displaying his skills at the piano, for instance: it's perfect vocals throughout. It's a unison monophonic-textured song with keen shifting home-keys for the singer to add a grove to it and also features sudden, brutal ups and downs in the scale, almost to absurdity – he goes to such low notes – or the higher ones – seemlessly and without any loss in tone quality. His lower register sounds muscular, powerful, beautiful and smooth. When I listened to Pittrek's share, I had the feeling that it was as if the whole place had been wrapped up and embraced by his voice and we were living inside it for some time – he holds sway as the notes flawlessly pop up from him while he's on top of the Superman. ;-) This concert has Freddie doing what I think must be one of his most glorious moments on stage as far as the rockers are concerned: his rendition of "Let Me Entertain You". It's absolutely jaw-dropping. It features, to my mind, the best version of "Save Me" too – the way he delivers the line "a soul for sail or rent" is a little vocal miracle. It encapsulates everything you expect from a singer in ONE LINE: astonishing range, absolut control of dynamic range and flutuations in timber, flair, wonderfully-colored notes, exquisite though slight variations on melody and smoothness. It may be a problem of mine – I guess it is. I'm too obsessed with this concert, I think, and sometimes, I can't deny it, I do ask myself why it just doesn't get officially released. Very few bands have the luxury of being able to release such a pristine concert – oh Lord forbid, I mean absolutely no criticism of either Brian or Roger or John, but how I'd love to see it officially released! :op While it doesn't happen, though, Pittrek's remaster of this gig is top-notch and is more than enough for you to enjoy Queen at its peak. And, as of now, I think it's the best we have from that night. I can be wrong though, of course. I'm sure you know the concert, but I'm not sure whether you listened to the wonderful job dear user Pittrek did on this one. THANK YOU, AGAIN, for your kindness and patience. Take care and have a nice Tuesday! Yara |
| The Real Wizard 15.06.2009 22:42 |
City-in-the-Sun wrote: which other gigs would you guys recomend i listen to, which sound as full as the Sun City SB Mix.? If you want earlier Queen in equally good sound, start with the London 3-31-74 and London 12-24-75 shows. The best versions have been shared, so dig around in here: /queenzone/1109319.html |
| riccardo 15.06.2009 23:21 |
Sir GH wrote: I have to admit, I have yet to give an objective listen to the uncut 1-12-85 show, as the video is such bad quality. Is yours at least listenable? But again, most of the audio on the 60 minute official release is from that night, and you're right, he does put in a good show. From Rock in Rio I have only the official release too... but in youtube I found some good videos of the first night. He does put a very remarkable performance of somebody to love, hardlife and IWTBF there (and I don't remember the other songs). |
| riccardo 15.06.2009 23:56 |
koldweather123 wrote:
Saying that its easily in the top 10 best shows for Freddie in terms of vocals n the tour, possibly pushing towards the top 5. IMO it goes the 9th May 1985, then 8th May 1985, then the Brussels show, Dublin show, 1st Birmingham show, Sun city, Rock in Rio 1st show, Sydney 26th April and then Stuttgart.
The 2nd Birmingham show is in the top 5 of Works tour. Check it. |
| The Real Wizard 16.06.2009 01:20 |
riccardo wrote: From Rock in Rio I have only the official release too... but in youtube I found some good videos of the first night. He does put a very remarkable performance of somebody to love, hardlife and IWTBF there (and I don't remember the other songs). Fair enough, the first night in Rio was a great show. But this Sun City show is overall on the same level vocally, I think. Instrumentally, Sun City is leagues beyond it. In Rio they were a machine playing for the masses, but in South Africa they had something to prove. |
| on my way up 16.06.2009 06:16 |
Sir GH wrote:riccardo wrote: From Rock in Rio I have only the official release too... but in youtube I found some good videos of the first night. He does put a very remarkable performance of somebody to love, hardlife and IWTBF there (and I don't remember the other songs).Fair enough, the first night in Rio was a great show. But this Sun City show is overall on the same level vocally, I think. Instrumentally, Sun City is leagues beyond it. In Rio they were a machine playing for the masses, but in South Africa they had something to prove. I agree with you. There's more to this Sun City show than Freddie's vocals. The others sound fresh and hungry too. Freddie's improvisation is also much better than the first Rio night(I must say the Rock in Rio blues sounded great the second Rio night). There's great interaction in Sun City, they act as a team that wants to conquer this new audience(Rio was more on routine, i feel). That section between Dragon attack and NIH gets my blood boiling. Such moments did not occur during the first Rio night, even though the band was solid and Freddie in great voice. |
| L-R-TIGER1994 16.06.2009 07:35 |
Sir GH wrote:riccardo wrote: From Rock in Rio I have only the official release too... but in youtube I found some good videos of the first night. He does put a very remarkable performance of somebody to love, hardlife and IWTBF there (and I don't remember the other songs).Fair enough, the first night in Rio was a great show. But this Sun City show is overall on the same level vocally, I think. Instrumentally, Sun City is leagues beyond it. In Rio they were a machine playing for the masses, but in South Africa they had something to prove. blah |
| koldweather123 16.06.2009 09:18 |
riccardo wrote: The 2nd Birmingham show is in the top 5 of Works tour. Check it. From what I remember of it, its a good show and to be fair its probably at least as good as Stuttgart, indeed in terms of the bands playing its a very good show, though not as alive as this sun city show nor the 5 Japan shows. |
| The Real Wizard 16.06.2009 11:03 |
L-R-TIGER1994 wrote:Sir GH wrote:blahriccardo wrote: From Rock in Rio I have only the official release too... but in youtube I found some good videos of the first night. He does put a very remarkable performance of somebody to love, hardlife and IWTBF there (and I don't remember the other songs).Fair enough, the first night in Rio was a great show. But this Sun City show is overall on the same level vocally, I think. Instrumentally, Sun City is leagues beyond it. In Rio they were a machine playing for the masses, but in South Africa they had something to prove. Thanks for your always-insightful addition to the discussion. You're so very right. They had absolutely nothing to prove to a new audience in South Africa. In fact, bearing your groundbreaking comments in mind, apartheid never even happened. |
| L-R-TIGER1994 16.06.2009 12:05 |
You might be right SIR but at least I put my comments here I do not insult via PM like some other people you know. |
| Holly2003 16.06.2009 12:23 |
L-R-TIGER1994 wrote: You might be right SIR but at least I put my comments here I do not insult via PM like some other people you know. Oooooooooohhhhhhhhh! http://cloggie.org/proggold/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/Vic_Bob_Handbags.jpg |
| L-R-TIGER1994 16.06.2009 12:36 |
Who are they?the gay one without glasses is you? |
| Holly2003 16.06.2009 13:10 |
L-R-TIGER1994 wrote: Who are they?the gay one without glasses is you? Nope, this is me: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2163/2206949958_78cb9e458c.jpg?v=0 Being taunted by some medium-sized grass. |
| City-in-the-Sun 20.06.2009 10:25 |
As i have not listened to many Queen unofficial live recordings, right at the end of Now im Here after the short drum outro Freddie Sings/Shouts" Yea Blow it out your Arse"? Has he ever done this before, would love to know and if you have a snippet of this would love to here it. Thanks Anthony. |
| The Real Wizard 20.06.2009 11:47 |
He did it pretty often in the 80s. Here's the well-known version from the Tokyo 82 video: link |
| Kniggit 20.06.2009 13:48 |
i like that japanese dvd |